subject: Southwestern Company: Make a Plan to win the Battle of Life! [print this page] Southwestern Company: Make a Plan to win the Battle of Life!
Every one of us in our life has areas in which we want to improve. We may want to get better at patience, perseverance, emotional consistency, discipline, avoiding procrastination, staying organized, self esteem, or a whole host of other things. The most common mistake we make along this journey towards self improvement is trying to attack these problems without any battle plan. It takes focused, targeted, repeated efforts that directly attack our weakness. So what does this look like?
If you want to get better at a "skill" (basketball, pool, etc) you need practice. If you want to get better at a certain "mental skill" , it also takes practice, but there are four main steps to do it.
1) Identify exactly what you want to get better at
2) Identify your triggers
3) Come up with a specific plan for the moment these trigger points occur
4) Read over your plan DAILY
Triggers
So what does it mean to identify your "triggers"? Well, let me give you an example. In 2006 I discovered that I really did not like criticism. I felt attacked and instantly became defensive. I think most of us can relate to this, but it is a mental barrier that hinders growth. In this case the "trigger" is obvious, criticism. In other cases you may have to dig deeper. If you are prone to spurts of low self esteem, take a half hour to write out as many things as you can think of that have a tendency to "trigger" this initial downward slide. Identifying our triggers is a HUGE step required to understand ourselves better and grow. You can do this with any area in your life you want to improve in. What "causes" you to slip up in this area?
Make a Plan
When I first wanted to improve in taking criticism I decided that when I felt that anger boiling up inside of me I was tempted to respond defensively to take 10 seconds and not say anything. I just nodded and tried to think about it analytically. Were they right in what they were saying? Do I need to get better at what they had just brought up? The funny thing is that I often found that they were! Just by taking 10 seconds to evaluate what they were telling me instead of defending myself, I saved an argument and got lots of great advice. If I thought they were wrong after thinking about it, instead of defending myself, I simply said, "I am not sure I agree with that, but I want to be open minded. Let me think more about it tonight when I am not tempted to defend myself and I will probably realize you are right." Often times, after thinking about it more, they were right again! And if not, I saved getting into an argument that neither of us was going to win anyway. So, come up with your plan.
Write down how you are going to deal with every "trigger" on that list. If you don't know how to; ask for advice. Compile a plan for EVERY SINGLE TRIGGER. You will be amazed how empowering this feels. You finally have a plan!
Read it every day
You plan is worthless if you forget to execute it. By reading through your plan every morning you cement it in your brain. Then, when a situation arises that used to bring out the worst in you, your plan immediately comes to the surface.
Following these four steps will have a dramatic impact on your weaknesses. Continue to get better day by day as a person and you will eventually be amazing at whatever you do, whether it is sales or anything else. With a plan, life becomes a lot more fun and less stressful!
